


Learning to Trust

by yankeetooter



Category: Chernobyl (TV 2019)
Genre: Gen, M/M, Time Travel, Valoris
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-04
Updated: 2019-09-29
Packaged: 2020-07-30 16:31:18
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,894
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20100226
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yankeetooter/pseuds/yankeetooter
Summary: Valery Legasov and Boris Shcherbina mysteriously end up in the U.S., in the summer of 2019.  They have to learn to trust a stranger and adjust to a future thirty some years after Chernobyl.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, just a warning. I am very vague on the event that transported Valery and Boris into the future, so don't judge. The story is about what happened after, so let's just overlook that small detail together, shall we?
> 
> My apologies to Seinfeld in this first chapter, as I stole a plot device from them.
> 
> Lastly, Boris and Valery both speak and read passable English in this story. After all, Boris has had to meet with foreign diplomats on numerous occasions. Valery has attended a number of science composiums and hearings around the world, including the latest in Vienna.

June 16, 2019, late afternoon

Boris is driving down the road in a semi-rural area, somewhere in MD, Valery half passed out on the seat next to him. It is a very hot and humid day, but Boris doesn't have the air conditioning (such American luxuries!) running. He is fixated on the gas tank reading, and it's not good news. He's not sure how much further they'll be able to drive before they run out of gas (which is why, in spite of the intense heat, he's not using the air conditioning). Suddenly, steam starts coming from under the hood. The temperature gauge on the dashboard shoots way up, and the car starts shuddering alarmingly. Boris pulls over and shuts the car off. What now?! 

Valery chooses to come around at that inopportune moment and blinks confusedly. 

"What is it, Boris? Why are we stopped?"

Boris fakes a smile and says, "No worries, Valera! Just a short break!". He pulls their last, mainly empty bottle of water out from the backseat and hands it to Valery, who doesn't look good at all. "Drink!" he orders.

Valery takes the bottle, but looks at Boris questioningly. "But what about you?"

"No, no, I just drank a bunch of water a little while back, while you were sleeping."

Valery nods and gratefully empties the bottle, terribly thirsty.

Boris nods encouragingly. He hasn't had anything to drink since early this morning, but what Valery doesn't know won't hurt him.

____________________________________________

June 16, 2019, earlier that day

Boris stops at the gas station to top off the tank. Valery has gone to find a restroom. Both of them still had yet to recover from the odd circumstances they found themselves in, but at least Boris has enough cash on him to see them through for a bit. They rented this car yesterday, and now they just need to figure out where to lay low for awhile.

Boris goes in to get the change from the attendant. He's speaking as little as possible because in America in 2019, a Russian accent is not too popular, apparently. He's pocketing his change when something pokes him in the back and a voice says, "Hand me your cash! You too!", talking to the attendant.

Boris' first reaction is to spin around and knock the guy down, but the attendant looks terrified and Boris decides he better play it cool... which turns out to be a good thing because he catches sight of the thief in a mirror and he's holding a sawed off shotgun.

He hands the guy his change, but the thug gestures with the gun to his pocket. "All of it!". Damn! The guy must have seen him come in the first time when he paid. Boris pulls out his billfold and hands it to the guy, who collects the money from him and the attendant and backs out the door, his shotgun still trained on them. He gets in a waiting car, which peels out of the lot.

Boris follows at a safe distance, but there's nothing to be done. The guy is long gone. That was all of his and Valery's money. Worst yet, he doesn't dare wait around for the police. Valery and him have only their Communist Party ID's, and no paperwork for being in the country. Boris doesn't think it's worth the risk to get questioned by the authorities. They definitely cannot get sent back to Russia, no matter what the year.

Just then Valery comes around the corner from the restroom. He sees Boris' face. "Are you alright?" he asks, oblivious to any of what just happened.

Boris puts on his cheeriest smile and says, "Of course! Let's go!". (He'll have to break the news to Valery soon, but can't bring himself to just yet.

____________________________________

July 15, 2019, early in the morning

Boris comes to lying on the ground in a wooded area just off what looks like a local park of some sort. Valery is lying beside him, just starting to stir.

What the hell happened? This is certainly nowhere near where he remembers being last night!

Boris helps Valery sit up, who looks just as bewildered as he is. They both stand up stiffly. Spending the night among tree roots has certainly done neither of them any favors.

They walk to a nearby bench, brushing off their clothes as thoroughly as possible. Seeing a discarded newspaper nearby, Boris picks it up and gasps in disbelief. The publication, in English, is the Washington Post, and the date is June 14, 2019. The top headline reads, "More Evidence of Russian Tampering in the 2016 Election Uncovered". Boris and Valery can only stare at each other in shock.

____________________________

February 21, 1988, Moscow, late at night

"Valera! Come on! Hurry!" Boris urges in a desperate whisper, as loud as he dares.

Valery follows Boris into the warehouse. Everything has gone wrong. Bribes were paid and all should have been in order for them to get out of the country. But someone tipped off the KGB, who is hot on their trail, Boris and he are just barely keeping ahead. 

As they duck in the warehouse, Boris glances back and sees Charkov's men closing in. He pulls Valery into a small room with all sorts of odd electrical panels. 

Cupping Valery's face in his hands, Boris says, "Listen, Valera! Whatever happens, it was all my idea!"

"What? No! Boris, I won't let you take the responsibility for this! You can say I decided to run and you were pursuing me!"

"Not a chance! Now, quickly, hide!"

Both men find a weird contraption in the room and enter it to hide, but they know it won't be long before the KGB corners them. Valery, with his usual clumsiness, stumbles and trips some sort of lever. There is a blinding flash, and neither he or Boris remembers anything for a long while.


	2. Unlooked for compassion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hope and help come unexpectedly, but can Boris trust enough?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Any first person sections are told from out OC's point of view.

It's been two hours since the car broke down, and Boris is at a loss as to what to do. Not a single car has driven down the rural lane, and Valery is becoming more and more unresponsive.

Boris has tried looking under the hood, and as far as he can tell in this newer model car, the main problem seems to be a hole in the radiator hose, but he has no way of fixing it, so it doesn't matter.

Boris would try to walk somewhere, despite the heat, but he is feeling the effects of dehydration himself, and figures he'd make half a mile at most. Besides, he can't leave Valery.

He briefly nods off and is awakened by the sound of thunder in the distance. 

_Oh! If only it would rain!_

___________________________________

I step out of the grocery store and am hit by the disgustingly muggy air. It's a typical Mid-Atlantic summer day and I'm hoping it will storm later and bring some relief.

As if in answer to my wishes, a chirping noise comes from my smartphone right then. I wait until I get to my car so I can set the case of water down that I just bought, then check out my phone. There's a tornado watch, and a tornado warning for an area some distance away, but it looks like it could head in this direction. I have to get home!

Leaving the parking lot, I turn down a country road that is the quickest way to my neighborhood. It's only about five miles, but I don't want to waste any time. But then I see a car pulled over on the side of the road, it's hood up, and an older man standing by the car, watching as my car approaches. 

I want to get home, but I'm not about to leave someone stranded, and especially with the bad weather coming. As I park and get out, I notice another man in the front seat of the broken down car who does not look well at all. He's sweating profusely and looks very pale. The older man doesn't look that good either, come to think of it, but still he regards me defensively, a look of distrust in his eyes.

________________________________

Boris watched as the car pulled over and parked and a woman got out of the car. As desperate as he and Valery were for help, old habits die hard, and Boris went on alert. What if this was a undercover police come to arrest them? Or a Russian agent? Although the second seemed less likely, as they had somehow ended up thirty odd years in the future. Still, too many unpleasant encounters with the KGB in the past had hardened Boris, and he found it hard to trust, more especially when Valery could be in danger.

"Are you alright? Well, stupid question, I guess. Here, hold on..." And the woman backtracks to her car and comes back with two bottles of water, gesturing to the man in the front seat. "For you and your friend."

Boris takes the bottles of water gratefully and goes to Valery. Suspicious he might be, but Valery needs water. 

"Valera, Valera...wake up. You need to drink some water!". Valery comes around and looks blearily through his glasses. Seeing the water bottle, he drinks eagerly, but at the prompting of a woman standing by, Boris only lets him drink small portions at a time. The woman nods approvingly. "If he drinks it all at once, he might get sick."

Boris is a bit put out at her intrusion, but what she says makes sense. The fact she is obviously concerned about Valery softens his attitude toward her slightly. 

Even moderating Valery's drinking, the first bottle is emptied quickly enough, so Boris opens the second bottle for him. Valery looks a little better, but still very exhausted and hot. 

At the sight of Boris giving Valery the second bottle of water, the woman makes a slight exasperated sound, then laughs a bit and goes back to her car. Retrieving another bottle of water, she marches up to Boris and thrusts it at him with a stern look on her face. "This one is for you." Boris bristles at her scolding, pulling himself up to his full height. The woman is at least half a foot shorter than he is, but she doesn't back down. Boris gives her his most intimidating glare, but she only digs in more.

"Look, I see you're concerned about your friend...and you should be. I'm worried he might have heatstroke. But you need to keep yourself hydrated too. Him I could probably get to my car on my own, but if you pass out, I'm not so sure I could do the same for you." 

Boris doesn't like being bullied into anything, but he's not stupid. The woman is right, so he drinks the better part of the bottle of water, then frowns at her. "Satisfied?" he growls at her. But she only beams at him in response, then says softly, "Come on, let's get you and your friend out of this heat. Help me get him in my car." We need to get under cover before this storm hits. I'm only a few miles down the road."

Just then a huge peal of thunder sounds, but Boris stands in place, momentarily stunned. This woman doesn't know them at all, or anything about them, but yet she's going to take them to her house? Who would do that?

"Come on," she says, and when Boris still stands there frozen, she gently takes him by the arm and turns him towards the car, then pulls him along to Valery. Boris can only surrender to her, completely floored by her familiarity.


	3. Valery is sick.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They take shelter from the storm, but Valery is in bad shape.

We got back to the house in the nick of time. Dangerous lightning was going off nearby, and the rain was starting to fall in big fat drops. Boris practically carried Valery inside, then upstairs. Right as he laid him in the bed I indicated, the deluge began.

Valery's skin was hot and dry, not a good sign. He was past heat exhaustion and most likely had heat stroke. He really needed to go to the emergency room, but when I had suggested that to Boris as gently as I could on the way home, he refused vehemently. 

"No hospitals!" he shouted, but there was a scared and desperate look in his eyes which got worse whenever he gazed at Valery. I agreed reluctantly... for the moment. From the way this storm was looking, we probably shouldn't be out on the road just then anyway. But when the storm was over, and if Valery got worse...

"I really need to get him submerged in water so we can bring his body temperature down." Boris nodded and looked towards the bathroom. Easily reading his thoughts, which matched mine, I indicated the intense storm outside. "But not while that's going on."

In the end we had to settle for removing his clothes except for his trunks, then sponging his body off with cool washcloths. It wasn't the best solution, but his body temperature stabilized. 

As soon as the storm had moved far enough away, Boris and I carried Valery to the bathtub which I had filled with cool water, then laid him in the tub. I glanced over at Boris, who looked on the verge of collapse himself. I went and retrieved a bottle of water and made him drink the whole thing, then, grabbing a set of towels, shoved them into his arms and pointed to the other bathroom with the shower. When he opened his mouth to argue, I scowled at him. "Did you want to collapse yourself? I can hardly carry you on my own, and Valery's in no shape to help!". Boris, faced with my logical argument and my relentless determination, went and took a long cold shower. By the time he was finished, I gauged that Valery was out of danger. His core temperature was near normal and he was actually shivering a bit.

Boris and I got him to the bedroom and after determining that Boris wasn't going to collapse, I left him to remove Valery's wet trunks and tuck him into bed. When I peeked in on them a bit later, Boris was stretched out on the chair next to the bed, snoring away. I walked over to him and quietly said his name. When he didn't stir, I put my hand on his forehead. He felt warm, but not dangerously so, so I could leave him to sleep for now. I did drape a light blanket over him so he wouldn't get chilled, then closed the door gently on the way out. I didn't notice Valery watching me as I went around the room and as I left.

Valery sat up groggily after she left, looking at Boris knocked out and snoring. He felt utterly exhausted, and didn't remember much of how they had gotten here. Who was this woman, and why would she help two complete strangers? Feeling sleep claiming him once again, he laid back down, one hand resting on Boris' arm as unconsciousness took him once again. Questions would have to wait.


	4. More Distrust

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Valery's and Boris' rescuer puts two and two together. Boris does not react well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, dear readers. You've accepted the vague explanation I gave in Chapter 1 as to how Boris and Valery ended up in 2019. Here's something else to blow your mind. 
> 
> The Boris and Valery in my story look like the comrades we all know from HBO. In this chapter, the OC makes a brief reference to HBO's Chernobyl, which she's seen. Be aware that in this story the Boris and Valery in the show look nothing like the Boris and Valery in the story (who do look like the Boris and Valery in the show we've all seen), because that would be weird. Confused yet?

Both Boris and Valery were much more themselves the next day, although Valery was still a little weak. Gradually they grew more comfortable with me and began opening up more.

I noticed that while both liked talking about their interests and even various issues, they seemed rather unaware of current events. Some of that could perhaps be explained by them being from Russia, as the media was still very suppressed, but, still. One afternoon I made a brief reference to the Soviet Union having broken up. Boris thought he checked his reaction without my noticing, but I picked up on his shock. And Valery, well, he blurted out "What!?!!" before a subtle (but still noticed by me) kick under the table by Boris made him stammer out some lame reason for his reaction.

There were other minor things, each one barely noticeable taken by itself, but when added up together made me begin to think very hard. Especially what happened about a week later...

Valery was contemplating taking a walk around the neighborhood, an undertaking that seemed safe enough to me, but it was way too hot for my tastes. Boris held the same view about the August weather as me. He had walked in the evening with Valery once or twice, but preferred the air-conditioned indoors during the day.

There was a Severe Thunderstorm Watch, so I asked Valery to wait while I checked the radar.

"Check the radar?" Boris asked confusedly.

"Oh, I forget not everyone's a weather geek like I am. I have an app on my phone that let's me do that."

Boris' eyes darted over to the landline phone on the stand, then back to me. 

_What _ _was she talking about? How could one possibly check the radar on that? Phones were for talking, and occasionally smashing, but you couldn't check the radar on them! Was she mad?_

I noticed Boris' glance, but didn't say anything. I was fairly sure they had cell phones in Russia. Even if neither Boris and Valery had ever owned one, how could they not know about them?

Shaking my head, I sat down next to them and proceeded to pull up the weather app on my phone. I showed how one could look at the current radar, get alerts and check current conditions. I could tell both of them were blown away, but neither of them said much.

"Well, if you go now, you'll probably be okay if you're back in a half hour, but I wouldn't push it beyond that. And hightail it back here if you start hearing thunder." My words of caution were directed towards Valery, but Boris stood up right then and said he would go too. I watched as they headed out the door, laughing to myself. They no doubt wanted to talk about what they had just seen.

Anyway, things like that began to make me wonder about what exactly their background was. Until...

Two days later I had brought up the events of Chernobyl with Valery, having realized from his talking about his interests that he knew a lot about nuclear physics. Boris was sitting across the room reading the paper, but at the mention of Chernobyl his ears perked up. Valery seemed a bit hesitant to talk about it, but I had watched a miniseries a few months ago and since read a number of books on the topic. I was on the verge of obsession Chernobyl wise, and so plowed on despite Valery's reticence.

Slowly, he opened up and talked more, although he seemed to be taking a lot of time thinking about his responses. Meanwhile, Boris was trying to pierce Valery with his gaze to all appearances. What was the matter? Were they not supposed to discuss it? But they weren't in Russia now. No KGB agents were listening in on our conversation.

I had just mentioned how some sources were somewhat critical of Valery Legasov's decisions of how to handle the aftermath of the disaster. Valery looked a bit upset and though I didn't know why, I quickly reassured him that I disagreed with the critics. But my reassurances were drowned out but Boris erupting out of his seat.

"How dare you?!?" he shouted, looming over me. "What would you know of it anyway? You weren't there! You have no idea how desperately we needed to put out the fire before the radiation could spread further!"

Valery had gone pale, looking as if he might faint. For one moment I assumed Boris' use of "we" was referring to the Soviet Union...and then it hit me.

"Wait! Boris...and Valery? Boris Shcherbina and Valery Legasov? But how? I mean, that was 33 years ago. You'd have to be...and Valery? Everyone knows you..."

Valery's head was in his hands. And Boris! Boris was backed up against the door, practically snarling.

"Who?!? Who told you? You're going to turn us in, aren't you? I knew we shouldn't have trusted you! How did they find out?"

At that last statement, I sank into my chair. I had been about to go over to Boris and try to reassure him, but that clearly wasn't going to work right this minute.

"Boris," I said quietly. " Nobody is turning anyone in. I'm not working with anyone. I'm trying to help you!"

Valery was gazing at me. His look said clearly how much he wanted to trust me. He looked at Boris, catching his gaze, and nodded almost imperceptibly.

"It's okay, Borja! I believe her! She could have turned us in a hundred times over by now."

Boris came over and sank wearily into one of the chairs near us.

_I'm so tired of running, so tired of watching what I say. Could she really mean us no harm? She certainly looked after Valery when he was doing so poorly. And she practically bullied me into taking care of myself too, when I would have worn myself out caring for Valery._

His eyes came up and met mine. Speechless, he spread his hands helplessly. "How did you know?"

"It was little things, for the most part," I reassured him. "Neither of you seemed to know about current events. And the look on your face when I talked about checking the weather on my phone!". I couldn't help but laugh at the memory, at which Boris got a small chagrined smile on his face.

Both of us turned in surprise as Valery burst out with a laugh, Boris looking at him as if he had lost his mind.

"Sorry, Borja, sorry," Valery apologized while still laughing. All these years you've worried about what will come out of my mouth, and it was you who gave us away!"

Boris tried to scowl at Valery, but his face dissolved into a sheepish grin instead. With one last fake stern look at Valery, which only produced another round of giggles from him, he turned back to me.

"Well, it was mainly all of that, and how you reacted in defense of Valery just now. And then, I don't know why I didn't pick up on it before, but, your names! Too much of a coincidence! But how could you still be alive and healthy this many years later?" I didn't bring up how Valery Legasov had supposedly committed suicide two years after Chernobyl, how Boris had supposedly died about two years after that. I honestly didn't know how to breach that topic.

" We don't know," Boris said. He told me their story, how they had been trying to run from the KGB, there had been a mysterious flash of light, and they had woken up half a world away and some thirty years later. I listened in awe, but I believed him. Too much other than that part of the story made sense.

But how was I going to tell them that, as far as history was concerned, they had both died?


	5. Figuring things out.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Boris and Valery find out what history has to say about them.

The next morning after breakfast, Valery went off to write some poetry. Boris and I sat at the kitchen table, making small talk.

Boris looked at me. "What else does history say about us?", he asked point blank.

I could only sit, gazing at the table. 

"Nancy, there has to be something! I realize the USSR wouldn't come out and say we disappeared mysteriously, but there must be some other mention of us!"

I looked at him uncomfortably. And then I plunged ahead. I told him how, according to history, Valery had hung himself. How he had died around two years later from health issues from the radiation.

Boris sat there stunned. "We were both sick already when we were somehow transported to your time. But now, neither of us seem to be sick anymore. I don't understand why, but I'll take it."

"So...do two of each of you somehow exist?". I furrowed my brow. "And then when Valery hung himself and..."

There was a crash from behind Boris. Valery, coming in the room, had overheard the last sentence I'd uttered and fainted dead away, dropping his mug in the process.

Boris and I rushed over to Valery, who thankfully had missed smacking his head on the wall. Slowly he came around, his head resting in Boris' lap. He looked at me in a state of shock.

"Did you say what I thought you did?" he stammered.

"Now Valera," Boris cut in, "obviously that can't have happened because you're here with me, safe and sound. Well, safe anyway," he teased.

Valery stuck his tongue out at Boris but a small smile crept across his face. Indicating he felt better, he let Boris prop him up in a sitting position.

We both turned to Boris as he explained his theory. "The way I see it is this. Valera and I slipped through the KGB's hands. They don't know how and they haven't been able to find us. After a while they created a cover story to save face, which is what Nancy and others have heard. No doubt I died too."

I nodded at his explanation, and Valery seemed to relax. "That has to be it, Boris," he said.

I wondered, though. I mean, I suppose it came from watching too much Star Trek, but could there have been two of Boris and Valery for a while, before their counterparts died back in their time? Well, there was no way to know, so I kept my thoughts to myself.

Later that day, we all sat around the table, discussing what Boris and Valery should do now. Neither could return to Russia. If anyone recognized them from pictures back in their time, there would be an uproar. And uproars were generally not good for whoever caused them. At any rate, things had changed drastically since the duo's time, and neither felt comfortable returning to an unknown situation.

There was no way for them to hold a regular job in the US, and the current situation did not bode well for undocumented immigrants, so we were stumped as to what they could do. 

I was financially comfortable, so the two of them could have just enjoyed early retirement, so to speak, but both of them balked at that, having both been workaholics before this.

"Valery, you said you like to write poetry?" Valery nodded shyly. "Well, what about writing? You'd have to publish under a pseudonym, but we could work that out. Meanwhile, I can get books for you to study so you can get current with nuclear physics. And, I can teach you computer programming if you like."

Valery nodded more enthusiastically. Both of them had been poring through my book collection since getting here, and my computer programming books had particularly interested Valery.

"Yes, I would like that, I think. And I always did want more time to write." Valery was very happy with his options. 

But then there was Boris...

Boris looked like he was feeling his age more than any other time since I'd come to know him. He didn't come out and say why (dear reticent Boris!), but I thought I could figure out what was going through his head. Boris had worked in government pretty much his whole life. He had been in a position of authority for years. No matter what we could figure out for him, it was going to be vastly different from what he had known his entire life. He had been enjoying learning from my various books, but didn't have the passion for science and computers like Valery did.

"It's okay," he said to us, and he sounded resigned to being, at least in his eyes, useless to our little odd family and society in general. 

I exchanged looks with Valery, who was gazing at Boris concernedly. Not since back in Chernobyl, when he had blurted out their death sentence, had he seen Boris so defeated. 

Taking Boris' hands in his, he tried to reassure him. "Boris, we'll figure it out.". 

Boris looked at Valery and sighed. He didn't seem convinced.

I had no viable solution to Boris' situation, at least immediately, but I did think of something that might distract him for a bit, based on something Valery had shared with me one day.

So the next day, when I came home from work, I was not alone. Leaving my "surprise" on the side porch, I came in and announced to Boris and Valery, "Well, life's about to get more crazy, I'm afraid." The two just looked at me, not sure what was coming. "I can't believe I got roped into this! But there was nobody else to take him, and I didn't want him to end up at a shelter. So, what could I do?"

At this, I went out the door and came back in with a small Golden Retriever puppy. "He's probably going to be a handful. I hope you guys don't mind."

Boris had already gathered the puppy in his arms, and was talking to him, completely enrapt with the puppy. Valery stood there agape. I walked by him and winked, and a big smile spread across Valery's face.


End file.
